literacy instruction

I have always been a big advocate of literacy in the classroom, I may not have always known exactly what that meant, but I did know it meant more than being able to read and write. This class has helped me to cement my theories and thoughts on the subject, well maybe cement is the wrong word as a classroom in a living thing and should never be so strict as to hinder movement in any direction, especially thoughts. So I will put it another way, this class has assisted me by allowing me to gain knowledge that I will be able to pass on to my students in the future.

A sketchbook is important in the art field  it is where your ideas go to be grown, but a white page can be daunting, so I will require my students to have a notebook, college ruled, to keep as a journal/notebook. How many people that are not artists doodle while, or instead of taking notes, and aren't the little doodles great? Yes they are. So by having that, I want to encourage experimentation, doodling, composition practice, and write write write,

Learning how to be literate in an art classroom is knowing the basics of art, form, line, shadow, etc, but also realizing that that knowledge means very little without imagination. The ability to create from whole cloth versus the ability to render well are very different and both are important aspects of art. I hope to give my students the tools to practice both skills, and to teach them that they can only practice, no one in art is ever finished, they should constantly learn and improve, that to me is the wonderful part of art, you are never truly finished learning.

Learning how to be a teacher is hard work. It is fun and interesting, but very hard work. Most of the people that will read this, likely all the people that will read this, know that. Hours upon hours of working with teachers at schools, working with your teachers on pedagogy, and lesson plans and revieweing and re-reviewing state and federal standards for your own and other programs.
On top of the secondary education degree I am also getting my K-12 certification, and working on, thinking like younguns is mighty difficult. Trying to not dumb the ideas down but to make them understanable while keeping hte layers  is the most difficult part of that.
As much as it is hard work, it is rewarding, interesting, fufilling., and engaging to be a part of this machine.
I don't know about you all, but I look forward to be being one of the overworked underpaid and completely disrespected teachers in somewhere USA. At least I can go to bed at night realizing that I am making a difference, even if it is small, every little bit counts.

I am going to be teaching first graders art for Elementary art education. I have taught high school and middle school. This is going to be a strange experience, but one I am looking forward too. 

Lesson plans are being thought up. Not sure what I am doing yet, but trying to decide if Egyptian Hieroglyphics would not be too difficult for first grade. Thinking about having them write their name in hieroglyphics and then using the images in a landscape drawing. It may be a little advanced though, I think adding a little history and having them use their imagination to tell stories about the finished pictures would be fun for them. 

I have really began to love education. and the ideas behind how to teach students well. Philosophies on teaching art I am learning have been my own philosophies on art anyway. So if I teach 12th grade or 1st grade it doesn't matter, I will be fine, and my students will be inundated with the love of learning and hte love of art. 

As being an artist becomes being an art teacher...

...and the dangers of digital art, okay not dangers, just... well let me explain... I can appreciate and have many times made art completely digitally, and could teach classes on the Adobe suite of programs, photoshop, illustrator, flash, indesign, etc, and because I can, I likely therefore will. I hope (and it might truly be against hope) that I get to teach 2D basics too. In a world increasingly CGed I think it is a genuine concern, so I will continue to keep astride the current design tech, for both in my civilian ID and teaching guise, but I will champion the way of the pen for as long as I can.
I have been an 'artist' for a while now, I love it. I love it more than I can express in any other way than simply making the art I love. Lines and areas of black, shapes and color combinations, style with substance, all of those things I love. Watching an artist work is endlessly fascinating too me. I simply love process. I want to pass that on to the next generation, the love of line, the beauty of the hand drawn, there is something about lines on paper that just makes me smile.
So in the end if i must teach tech art, I will try to make it have the heart of a pen on paper, and I will teach and focus on the basics of the tactile sensation of feeling the pen on the tooth of the paper, there really is nothing quite like it.